Author Notes: Well just when I thought I was done with my recipes for this week, I had one lone gorilla orange blossom tomato left and a mango that needed to be used up as well. I had bought ground sumac a few weeks ago (at a mideastern grocery) without much thought to using it for summer drinks, but then this little experiment brought these ingredients together. The ground sumac offers a savory, lemony flavor to this recipe which delivers a very rich, creamy lassi, pretty darn healthy, too. Sumac comes from the cashew family, so if you have nut allergies take precautions. - Sagegreen —Sagegreen

Food52 Review: The lassi is deeply underappreciated, don’t you think? Cooling and substantive, it responds to your thirst with tang and candor. Here, Sagegreen makes a lassi (the second lassi submission for the tomato theme – one more and we’d have had a trend, friends) that’s expansively flavored, with not just mango but tomato, too. With not merely cardamom and honey but a sprinkling of sumac (if you can't find it, just double the lemon zest). The tomato has a way of sharpening up the mango with gutsy contrast. Serve this extraordinary treat (well-chilled!) to guests and make them guess the secret ingredients. – A&M —The Editors

Serves 1-2

1cup thick Greek or Turkish yogurt, chilled

1/2cup chopped heirloom tomato that is sweet and juicy (Gorilla Orange Blossom or Valencia, for example)

I'm new to the site, Sagegreen, and am just finding my way around. This lassi looks incredible and will give some purpose to a fresh tin of sumac that I got at a downtown NY farmers market last weekend. Can't wait to try it...

Welcome, olin77. I joined this site just this summer, and it has become an important part of my life. I hope you enjoy this incredible community of cooks. I just used sumac in a snack cake with V8 juice!

This is such a creative recipe (as are all of your recipes) and deserves the recognition. My recipe is so simple, I don't really understand the attention. Who knows what A&M are looking for? Thanks again for being so kind and gracious.

AntoniaJames made an interesting point about drupes under the video blog for this recipe. Let me add here, too, my comments about drupes! Sumac, a small tree, is in the "Rhus" family and includes many, many cultivars. Ground sumac can come from Rhus coriaria or aromatica. I am most familiar with the live staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) growing in my area; you can make a sour lemonade- type drink from its berries. This kind of sumac has fuzzy antler-like branches with their red berry clusters I've heard described both as drupes or stangs. Botanically, the drupe refers to the exocarp, the fleshy outer skin, and drupes have an interior pit (like peaches, plums, and cherries). Raspberries I have heard described as "drupelets." Mangoes are technically drupes, too! So this recipes includes double drupes, worth another giggle or two in my book.

I just realized I misspelled cardamom in my recipe, but hope to get that corrected. To play further with flavor and color of your drink, you can experiment by adding other spices, too, such as saffon and a little tumeric, which is supposed to have great health benefits. The color is part of the fun of making this.

Congratulations sagegreen!!!! I love lassies and am definitely making this. I'm so happy for you that you're in the finals this week. And thanks so much for the tip on the sumac. I'm allergic to nuts, as is my husband, and had no idea about the sumac. BTW, at least here locally, sumac is also available at WF in the small spice/herb boxes.

I can't believe I am in a final! Btw, if you rub a little sumac or a sumac berry on your wrist, you can see if you have a skin reaction the next day. If so, then do not use sumac. I have another kind of sumac in an iced tea recipe with more info. Some people who are allergic to nuts are actually fine with sumac...but pretest carefully! Or just increase the lemon zest as A&M brilliantly suggest.